


BEFORE AND AFTER: From the Files of the 340th MEU, The Time Keepers

by triolamj



Category: SFMC, Star Trek
Genre: 340th MEU - Freeform, 3Bde, Other, SFMC - Freeform, Star Trek - Freeform, Starfleet Marines, timekeepers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:55:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25583209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/triolamj/pseuds/triolamj
Summary: In this world, this galaxy, in this time, who can you REALLY trust?  Who can you really count on?
Comments: 1





	BEFORE AND AFTER: From the Files of the 340th MEU, The Time Keepers

  
**BEFORE AND AFTER:**  
 **From the Files of the 340th MEU, The Time Keepers**  
  
by   
  
COL Max "Mariachi" Triola (SCC 67845)  
302nd Marine Strike Group, USS Zavala

(February 2019)

Everything about the young woman sitting across from Sarah annoyed the hell out of her but especially her voice and particularly her accent. She was having the same reaction that Kelly had described as one of his pet peeves, that feeling you get when you hear your voice on your personal log and it sounds higher-pitched and more nasal than the way you hear it in your head. She spoke slower than Sarah and had a deeper twang. The fact that she was young and cute was irritating, too. She did seem way too young to be an operative of the Department of Temporal Investigations. Plus she was naggingly familiar, like a younger cousin only seen at the edges of a well-attended family reunion, the one who looks like Aunt Lulu's second husband. Assistant Director Dulmur had introduced her as "Agent Texas" but that was obviously a code name. Dulmur seemed to enjoy some private joke when he turned over the briefing to the agent and smiled at both of them as he left. "He's a big fan of you and the Timekeepers, Sarah", said Agent Texas, "especially since your mission on Rasmussen III to retrieve Dr. Eisenstein. Your work on Boreth and your showdown with the bounty hunters on Silverblue just cemented his good opinion. He and the Commandant of the Corps feel like you give D.T.I. access to their own little Force Recon unit when its needed. You've retrieved or destroyed dozens of illegal time-travel devices, preserving the time-lines of hundreds of planets. This mission is crucial, absolutely crucial to the health of every citizen in the Federation". Texas passed a small tablet PADD to Sarah with the words "OPERATION CRAMINN" on the screen. Sarah ran her thumb over the ID sensor and the screen unlocked and scrolled to the next page. "This is a photo of Craminn from outer space. They've just developed warp capability and they've used it to invade and colonize four adjoining solar systems. They used less-than-lethal biowar devices to debilitate and conquer those other planets. Their work on engineering retroviruses is cutting edge even compared to Starfleet Medical and their chronowarp incubators are their shining achievement and most dangerous invention. Chronowarp could lead to two-way time travel and that combined with their flair for biological warfare pose a major threat to the Federation. Your mission, if you accept it, will discourage the Craminians from continuing their development of bioweapons and channel that work into raising the life expectancy of their people and ours. Basically, you will allow yourselves to become guinea pigs for the Craminnians". She paused and looked straight at Sarah. Sarah was not warming up to her and the words "guinea pigs" had hardened the Marine's already stony expression. Texas nodded her head and continued, "Yes, you have a right to be worried but there's a lot at stake here and a lot to gain. The Craminnians can go from being the creepily evil mad scientists that they are now to becoming the celebrated Albert Schweitzers of known space. They can be to medicine what Einstein was to physics. You'll find out that there's something in it for you, for Kelly, and for Noble, too".

She continued, "The logistics are simple. We've outfitted a Prospector-class freighter for the Timekeepers with heavy armor plating but light weaponry. You'll make system fall on the outer edge of Craminn-dominated space. The Ferengi have sold us intelligence gathered from the trading partners of the Craminnians with detailed information on their First Contact protocols. Your ship, _The Egress_ , will be stocked with a computer full of misleading data, a helm stocked with incorrect star charts, and a sick bay full of outdated equipment. The hardest part of this mission for the three of you will be to just do nothing, to be human bait for the Craminnians. Once you enter their space, they will hail you and have you dock at one of their space stations. _The Egress_ will undergo a safety inspection then their people will board you for a health screening of each of you. They'll request a voluntary tissue sample: Kelly and Noble should decline but you should volunteer". Texas' tone of voice sharpened. "This is the crucial part. You've had an odd, large freckle on your forearm since Boreth and it's beginning to worry you. Have the health screener take the specimen from there. Don't be nervous, don't tip your hand, there will be just a little pain but bear it and you'll be released from quarantine in just a few minutes. You'll be cleared to enter the space station into the section set aside for alien visitors. Like usual it will be stuffed with surveillance sensors. The Interstellar Commerce Authority has a briefing ready for you so that you'll be able to look and act the part of merchant spacers and they'll debrief you on that side of things when you get back. Take your time, rub elbows with the locals and bend elbows with the other traders. I.C.A. will provide you with an appropriate selection of Federation goods with which you can wheel and deal. Any profits can go to Toys For Tots. While you're doing that the Craminn secret police will be crawling all over your vessel absorbing as much of our technology and as many of our secrets as they can. On your third station day you'll have signed contracts with two civilizations that didn't even know the Federation exists. By this time the Craminn will have infected you with what they believe is a particularly nasty retrovirus based on the faked data they stole from your sick bay's medical library. The side effects will appear after you depart, all positive: accelerated repair of your telomeres, corrected vision and hearing, improved muscle tone, a vastly more efficient gut biote, and", she twirled a honey-brown tress around a forefinger, " a lustrous head of hair".

Sarah rolled her eyes and gave a little snort. The more Texas talked, the more Sarah realized that as much as Texas' outward beauty and youth annoyed her, she was briefing Sarah the way Sarah would brief the BOIC. Sarah caught herself rubbing the small disruptor scar above her right temple as she considered the implications. She watched as Texas realized she was doing the same thing to the same scar on her right temple. Not a similar scar but the same scar. Sarah caught herself smiling at the same instant Texas began smiling, too. Who else could I count on? she thought. Who else could I trust?

"I've seen the "before" picture, now show me the "after"". The younger-looking agent grinned at the older-looking Marine and held up her personal PADD so that Sarah could see the screensaver. It showed a father and son standing side-by-side, the father appeared to be in his 30s, broad-shouldered with a swimmer's physique and the son appeared to be in his late teens, buff with a thick shock of dark hair. "Thanks", Sarah said, smiling, "but you had me at lustrous hair. Just one more question: Will we, you and I, ever meet again?"

Texas shook her head in the negative. She replied, "Only when you look in the mirror". At that the two women both laughed at the same time. Anyone looking in at that moment would have thought they were sisters ... and in truth they were.

  
**Author's Note** : To create this story I combined one of the best time travel stories "Who Else Could I Count On?" by the master of the one-page fantasy story, Manly Wade Wellman, with one of the best of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series short stories, "The Peacemaker", which has a delightful twist ending. I highly recommend both.

  
\- The End -


End file.
